Cape Nanhui is the coastal area at the southeastern tip of Shanghai. Despite manic development, the site in Pudong, 85 km (53 mi.) from People’s Square, remains the premier birding spot in Shanghai and one of the best-known birding areas in China. The microforests, a series of small woods, at Cape Nanhui are astonishingly effective traps for migrants such as Japanese Paradise Flycatcher and Siberian Blue Robin. The wetlands offer East Asian rarities Black-faced Spoonbill and Asian Dowitcher.
Featured image: The nubby promontory between the mouth of the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay is what local birders call Cape Nanhui. The site in Pudong, 85 km (53 mi.) from People’s Square, is the richest birding site in Shanghai and among the best birdwatching areas in China. (NASA/Craig Brelsford)
Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher, Microforest 1 (30.923889, 121.971635), 4 Sept. Cyornis brunneatus is a very scarce vagrant to the Shanghai coast. The species breeds in southeast China and has been recorded breeding on Tianma Mountain in western Shanghai. The species winters in Malaysia and Indonesia. (Craig Brelsford)I shoot in manual mode for fuller control. Here, using my Nikon D3S and Nikon 600 mm f/4, I chose the following settings: 1/160, f/11, ISO 1250. I used no tripod; instead, I steadied my rig on my knee. (Craig Brelsford)
After nearly 10 years in Shanghai and countless visits to Cape Nanhui, I still occasionally score life birds there, a testament to the richness of the hot spot. Such was the case 4 Sept. with Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher. The bird, an adult, was in Microforest 1 (30.923889, 121.971635).
Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher is a scarce vagrant to the Shanghai coast. Cyornis brunneatus breeds in southeast China, including interior Shanghai and the Tianmu Mountains, and spends the winter in peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo.
The IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable because of the loss of mature primary lowland forest throughout its range.
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